Children in London are twice as likely to receive private tuition than those in the rest of the country, new research will reveal.
Some 44 per cent of London children admitted having had a home tutor, compared with 22 per cent of those outside the capital.
The London figure has rocketed by 10 percentage points in the past decade, raising fears that poorer children are being left behind. The Sutton Trust has surveyed 2,500 young people about their education every year since 2005 and the latest results, to be published tomorrow, show how private tuition in London has spread. In 2005, 34 per cent of London pupils aged 11 to 16 said they had a private tutor.
The Sutton Trust, which works to improve social mobility through education, is calling on the Government to introduce a means-tested voucher system which poorer families could use to pay tutors. A spokeswoman said: “London pupils are now twice as likely to have received private or home tuition as their peers in the rest of the country. But those children whose parents can’t afford it are put at a disadvantage.
“We need to make sure that the academic playing field is levelled outside of the school gate by the state providing funding for private tuition on a means-tested basis.” The Sutton Trust praised organisations such as Tutorfair, a tutor agency which provides free tuition for a poor child for every paid student on its books. The parents of each paying student are asked to donate an extra five per cent to help pay for it.
The trust spokeswoman added: “The trust is concerned that the increasing proportion of children receiving private tuition could further widen the gap between those from privileged and non-privileged backgrounds, with those families who can afford private tuition extending their academic lead over those from less wealthy homes. In some places, tutoring is linked to getting into good grammar schools — the richest use prep schools, others pay for tutors and the poorest lose out.”
Edd Stockwell, a founder of Tutorfair, said: “If an educational game or book provided five additional months of progress for a student — like tutoring does — then society would fall over itself to provide this for free to those who couldn’t afford it.
“As a society, we have a responsibility to find ways to provide tutoring to those who really need it and Tutorfair is one of those ways. Tutoring doesn’t have to be unfair.”@_AnnaDavis
